An old debate revisited !!!!!

KuRUpTD said:
Ha ... when I read the topic I thought are we gonna have another batoning dabate :D
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Pitdog twirls his baton way better than you do KuRUpTD. We settled that already.

You both looked horrible in your cheerleading skirts.
 
pitdog said:
I know where ya comin from Fonly but how often do you really have to batton when out ? Where I live all the wood is so brittle that I can never find a stout enough piece to use as a batton anyway and would have to ue a rock !
When making fires I find that as long as I throw plenty of Fatwood on then I can even get damp stuff to start burning after !
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I guess its not that its needed, but man its makes some dry wood quick, that along with me folding saw, I can have a fire going in short time.

As it is now, every time I have gone out, I have batonned. Needed to? no. but I have done it because I can get exactly what I want from my fire wood, In my area wood is plenty full.
 
Well,it would depend on what I ended up doing. I trust my sturdy little F1's to get the job done. But if I'm stuck ,no option but to build shelter ,break up firewood etc,then I want one of my HI khukuris with me. I can build a shelter and get firewood with an F1,but it takes a lot longer,uses up more calories.
 
Everyone should carry only fixed blades that cost < $10, and Moras can and indeed should be used to baton through Busse knives. :D

OK, now that that's out of my system, time to get serious:

I am of the opinion that you can get away with a small fixed blade for just about everything. My EDC is a pocket scandi with a 3" cutting edge and comfortable 3.5" handle. This knife gets used for food prep, making fuzz sticks, whittling, cleaning fish, wood notching, household tasks, opening boxes, etc. I can think of very few occasions over the last few months when I have actually needed a larger blade. If you dropped me in the bush with just my EDC, I would probably feel totally under-knifed at first, but unless I needed to baton, chop, pry, hack through underbrush, or fend off sasquatch, I would probably do just fine.

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Handle shape is key, as pitdog mentioned. I designed my EDC so that the blade is lower than the front fingers (to aid with cutting and particularly food prep), but with a wider rear end that fills the palm for comfort and grip. I added a few thumb notches to help with grip and control.

A knife of this size only falls short, in my opinion, in situations where you need to apply additional force, beyond what would normally be required to cut something (really, anything that involves taking a swing).

All that being said, I like the versatility of a 4-5" blade, as it can accomplish the same tasks as my EDC, but also perform reasonably well at some chopping, splitting, or batoning tasks.

All the best,

- Mike
 
You can argue blade lengths all day but obviously knowledge and skill level in using the "sharpened piece of steel" is the key. Where I hike there is plenty of wood on the ground or within arms reach so batoning doesn't really come into play so I find a blade anywhere from 2 1/2" to 4" will get the job done.
 
Hi,

For my daytime excursions, I find I don't really need much knife. I can and have gotten by with just a peanut slippie, though I prefer a good solid medium stockman.

I've found that making a fuzzy stick requires more finesse than force. And food prep is mostly pretty simple for a day trip. And fuel for a fire is also pretty simple for me. I live, (Minnesota), where there is an abundance of wood of all sizes. So chopping and splitting wood really isn't necessary. If I plan on splitting wood, I carry my 'hawk. And what your knife blade is made of is more important for fire starting than it's size. After that, it's all about your skill.

I have dressed out all manner of critters, from fish to fowl, and small game to big game with nothing more than a stockman slippie. Simply because that is what I had on me. And it works better than you might think.

I don't plan on going into combat at my age, so that's not a concern.

I do have two fixed blade knives. An old Buck that my two youngest Daughters gave me years ago. And it's replacement, a Mora S1. I really don't need anything bigger, and I seldom carry them because I find them too annoyingly awkward.

dalee
 
Pitdog,

I think for the tasks you outlined you could get away with a small 2.5" to 3" fixed blade with a full size handle.

If I read it correctly you said "dayhike" I will assume that a suprise overnight stay would require a fire assuming your hurt and can't make it out. You have enough fatwood in your neck of the woods to burn a serious bon fire.

I keep thinking fixed blade Sodbuster would be really nice. I have grown to love the AG Russell woodswalker. It is tiny compared to some of my other blades yet it accomplishes 90% of the tasks.

I think you hit on a very important point when you said the handle needs to be full size. That IMP looks like a great EDC to accompany you on your dayhikes.

If you said "For overnight camping or long term survival" My answer would be completely different.

Good luck on your decision.

Paul
 
dalee100 said:
I've found that making a fuzzy stick requires more finesse than force. And food prep is mostly pretty simple for a day trip. And fuel for a fire is also pretty simple for me. I live, (Minnesota), where there is an abundance of wood of all sizes. So chopping and splitting wood really isn't necessary. If I plan on splitting wood, I carry my 'hawk. And what your knife blade is made of is more important for fire starting than it's size. After that, it's all about your skill.
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Sure fuzzies recquire finesse. But I also dont carry one knife.

This thing about more knowledge means less steel is crap in my eyes, when it comes to gear yes, but your choice of knife doesn't allways reflect your level of skill, that is an unfair biased opinion.

If you were to drop me in the woods with on 4" knife and a firestarter I would get to work and have a camp set-up in a day or two, thats a fire pit, shelter, utensils all the good stuff.

Pit, when it comes down to it, try going out from now on with a 4" blade, do your normal things, and maybe try a few things that you dont normally do, one thing I can guarantee is that one day something WILL happen that you wearn't expecting, thats when you will know wether you like have a 4" with you.

Like I said, the day I changed my mind is when I had no other means but a 4" blade, I DID get a fire going, I DID clean fish and open packages. But man, their were many times that trip that a stout 5-6" blade would have been ALOT better.
 
My favourite knife so far, is my wm1. So, a tad under 3". When i don`t carry my wm1, i always have my tk4 folder on me, which has about the same length. So for me, 3" is enough.
 
Some good advice being offered here, thanks, I think most of my chores fall into the same bracket as those Mentor described !!!!
 
For general purpose field use I find a blade in the 3.5” to 4.5” range to be sufficient. :thumbup: :cool: :thumbup:

That said, ;) …I’ve been known to carry a bigger blade on occasion. :eek:


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"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
Heck I love big knives. My largest being a Busse FFBM. However, I think the 3-5 in. blade range would cover most, if not all, your outdoor needs. My edc is a ZT 301 and that size feels really good to me so I think a fixed blade of similar size would be perfect.

Did I mention I love big knives? :D
 
Fonly said:
This thing about more knowledge means less steel is crap in my eyes, when it comes to gear yes, but your choice of knife doesn't allways reflect your level of skill, that is an unfair biased opinion.
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Fonly ... I wasn't inferring that your choice of knife reflects your level of skill at all.
My point was that if all you had on you was a small fixed blade you can still make it work for you. Imagine 2 people ,of varying experience, stranded in the wilderness both carrying the same 2 1/2 or 3'' inch blade ... who would you place your money on to survive ? The one with very minimal experience or an experienced woodsman ?

I like BIG knives too :D
 
KuRUpTD said:
Fonly ... I wasn't inferring that your choice of knife reflects your level of skill at all.
My point was that if all you had on you was a small fixed blade you can still make it work for you. Imagine 2 people ,of varying experience, stranded in the wilderness both carrying the same 2 1/2 or 3'' inch blade ... who would you place your money on to survive ? The one with very minimal experience or an experienced woodsman ?

I like BIG knives too :D
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No, and I think it came out directed at you, which I didn't want it to.
The scenario you provided, yes, the one with experience for sure. You know what I mean though right?
 
The biggest "knife" I carry now is a 5" blade. My Aurora,NWA Forum knife,Bravo-1,F1,S1. Every now and then I carry my Kukri and soon my Snow and Nealley Hudson bay axe.
 
If I have one of my saws or a small hatchet in my pack, I'm fine with a couple inches of blade. If it worked for the iceman, it's good enough for me.
 
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